2025 EFMD Career Services Conference

Name: 2025 EFMD Career Services Conference
Start: 2025-11-19T16:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-11-21T13:30:00+01:00
Location: Monash University

Thriving in uncertainty: Building resilience, adaptability & creativity in career services

Face to Face

19 November

- 21 November

Prato,

Italy

lenka.dvorackova@efmdglobal.org

Event details

The EFMD Career Services Conference focuses on the challenges career services professionals face as they navigate the current realities of career services, particularly in areas such as labour market trends, employer relationships, internationalisation, and both student and alumni engagement.

Career professionals must keep up with the latest technological advancements that enhance career services to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving environment. This conference provides the insights and tools needed to stay ahead.

Target group

The conference welcomes professionals involved in their schools’ strategic career services decisions and their teams, as well as newcomers looking to join the careers community and engage in ongoing conversations about best practices.
Participants engage in discussions with a panel of recruiters, join practical workshops and breakout groups to exchange ideas with experts and peers, and share experiences that help them stay agile.

Note: This conference is designed specifically for career services professionals, and we are unable to accommodate third-party providers.

Programme

16:00 – 16:45

Optional mindfulness session

In today’s fast-paced and high-stakes career services landscape, working with students, alumni, employers, and others often leads to heightened stress, decision fatigue, and emotional burnout. Supporting others while staying clear, focused, and resilient is a constant challenge for those in the field. Two mindfulness sessions – on days 1 and 3 – will offer evidence-based tools, guided practices, and take-home techniques to help you ground yourself amidst pressure, regulate stress in real time, and reconnect with purpose.

Please indicate your interest HERE.

David Matta, Career Management Services Director, American University of Beirut, LB

17:00 – 17:30

Registration and welcome coffee at Prato Campus of Monash University

17:30 – 18:30

Ice-breaking activity

Start the EFMD Career Services Conference by experiencing the art of meaningful connection — and how it can redefine the way we, and our students, network. This isn’t just an icebreaker; it’s an experience rooted in modern human connection that sets the tone for the entire conference. You’ll leave the room feeling safe, seen, and inspired — already part of a strong, shared community of peers and friends for the days ahead.

PS: We’re all “experts” in networking… but what happens when we truly experience it for ourselves? Around 100 career services professionals meaningfully connecting — and redefining what networking feels like from the very first moment, moving from pressure to perform, to joy in truly connecting with each other.

Albert Segura Mollà, Strategic Career Services Advisor, EADA Business School, ES

18:45 – 21:00

Welcome dinner at Il Dek

8:30 – 9:00

Registration at Prato Campus of Monash University

9:00 – 9:15

Welcome and opening remarks

Friedemann Schulze-Fielitz, Director, Business School Services, EFMD Global
Cathy Crupi, Associate Director, Monash Prato Campus, IT
Chairperson: Bronwen Fallows, Graduate Development Manager, Monash Business School, AU

9:15 – 10:00

Unlock your potential: From personal strengths to professional impact

Discover how your unique strengths can unlock your creativity. Identify your natural talents, take control of your professional development, and strategically amplify your impact. Learn to craft compelling narratives, build strategic visibility, and transform your strengths into measurable influence that elevates both student outcomes and institutional success.

Anne Wilson, The Career Catalyst, UK

10:00 – 10:30

Uncertainty and change in career services

Chairperson: Bronwen Fallows, Graduate Development Manager, Monash Business School, AU

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 – 12:00

Global labour market trends

In a rapidly evolving world of work, staying ahead of labour market trends is more critical than ever for career services professionals. This session brings together expert perspectives from China, Europe, and global corporate leadership to explore how recruitment practices are shifting across regions.

We will examine:

The latest research on global and regional hiring trends
The distinct characteristics of the Asian graduate employment market
The evolving role of AI in recruitment and implications for student employability
How organisations are navigating equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) across cultures

Alberto Navarra, Partner, HR Consulting Leader, Mercer Italy, IT
Crystal Kong, Founder & CEO, Lockin U, China
Francesca Abati, HR Business Partner West & North Europe, Webuild, IT
Caroline Baldwin, MSc Careers Manager, University of Bath School of Management, UK

12:00 – 13:30

Lunch

13:30 – 14:45

Applying AI tools: Real cases from other career services

Scale your own desk – how to become more efficient in your daily work with the students

Lisanne Keir, Career Development Manager, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Scale your overall strategy of the centre – how to support our students effectively, examples of prompt engineering

Laura van Steenwijk, Associate Director, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Building agents – If I can do it so can you!

A beginner’s guide to how he built some AI chatbots to help students with their employability.

In advance of this hands-on session you are kindly asked to register for poe: https://poe.com/

Dominic Prosser, Head of Careers Education, Henley Business School, UK

14:45 – 15:15

Coffee break

15:15 – 16:15

Breakout sessions 1

Shaping success: How career services and alumni engagement drive graduate outcomes—and influence rankings

This session explores how integrated career, alumni, and engagement strategies can shape long-term graduate success and strengthen institutional reputation. Through two scenarios and group discussion, participants will examine how careers teams’ work supports students and alumni and drives the outcomes that rankings are built on.

Morea Josias, Head of Alumni Relations & Career Services, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, ZA
Bronwen Fallows, Graduate Development Manager, Monash Business School, AU
Laura van Steenwijk, Associate Director, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Sharing best practices: International student placement

In this session, we will explore and exchange effective strategies and best practices for supporting international students in their transition from education to employment. Drawing from diverse institutional, our focus will be on innovative placement models, partnerships with employers, and tailored career support services. The session aims to improve outcomes and foster inclusive, career-ready environments for international students across borders through open dialogue and shared insights.

The session will be designed as a strategic brainstorming format, aiming to engage participants in a meaningful exchange of ideas and practices. As a special feature, we will include a short video showcasing best practices from the following institutions: Corvinus University, SDA Bocconi, University of Exeter, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Turku University of Applied Sciences

Silvia Ticolpe, Head of Career Services, Luiss Business School, IT
Albert Segura Mollà, Strategic Career Services Advisor, EADA Business School, ES

Careers for post-graduate researchers

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) represent the future of academia, innovation, and industry impact—yet their career development is often overlooked. This session explores why investing in PGR career support is both a strategic and ethical imperative, offering insights on how to gain institutional buy-in and allocate resources effectively. Real-world examples will highlight the long-term benefits for universities, including research excellence, alumni engagement, and global reputation.

Dawn Duke, Head of Researcher Development, Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF), UK
Pedro Resende, Co-Founder and Director, Chaperone, PT
Tuna Dağlı, Director of Career Development Center, Koç University, TR

16:15 – 16:30

Short break

16:30 – 17:30

Breakout sessions 2

Shaping success: How career services and alumni engagement drive graduate outcomes—and influence rankings

Morea Josias, Head of Alumni Relations & Career Services, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, ZA
Bronwen Fallows, Graduate Development Manager, Monash Business School, AU
Laura van Steenwijk, Associate Director, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Sharing best practices: International student placement

Silvia Ticolpe, Head of Career Services, Luiss Business School, IT
Albert Segura Mollà, Strategic Career Services Advisor, EADA Business School, ES

Careers for post-graduate researchers

Dawn Duke, Head of Researcher Development, Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF), UK
Pedro Resende, Co-Founder and Director, Chaperone, PT
Tuna Dağlı, Director of Career Development Center, Koç University, TR

19:00

Conference gala dinner at Conservatorio San Niccolò

8:20 – 8:50

Optional mindfulness session

Please indicate your interest HERE.

David Matta, Career Management Services Director, American University of Beirut, LB

9:00 – 10:30

Over to you – Fishbowl Discussion

You set the agenda for this open discussion session with suggestions for topics to be collected during 20/11/25 PM.

Fishbowl topics could include:

Deep dives: things that have surfaced during the conference that you’d like to take a deeper dive into
Storm at sea: challenges you have now or are on the horizon
Testing the waters: new ideas that you’d like to test the waters on with peers
Fishing for compliments: something you’re really proud of and are bursting to share.

Or you could cast the net even wider…?

Moderators

Dominic Prosser, Head of Careers Education, Henley Business School, UK
Julia Monzel, Head of WiSo Career Service, The University of Cologne, DE
Silvia Ticolpe, Head of Career Services, Luiss Business School, IT
Floortje Schouten-Dietz, Career Consultant, TIAS School for Business and Society, NL

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 – 12:00

Surfing over Uncertainty with a Cyber-Creative Board

How can the perception of uncertainty associated to alternative futures be turned from anxiety to a thriving sense of opportunity? The acceleration of societal evolution has transformed creativity from a luxury for the few to a democratic necessity for all, as it is only through creative activity and achievement that wellbeing can coexist with uncertainty. As generative AI has vigorously entered this realm, can we conceive human-AI collaboration strategies and methods in a cyber-creative process? Furthermore, going beyond our usual anthropocentric viewpoints, how do all these ideas fit into the dynamic universal creative process, entailing material, biological, psycho-social, and artificial layers of complexity?

Giovanni Emanuele Corazza, Professor and Founder of Marconi Institute for Creativity, Bologna Business School

12:00 – 12:15

Closing remarks and welcome to the 2026 Career Services Conference

12:15-13:30

Lunch

Speakers

David Matta

Career professional and executive development leader

Friedemann Schulze-Fielitz

Director, Business School Services & EFMD Global Network Americas

EFMD Global

Accommodation

The conference hotel Art Hotel Milano is fully booked.

You can find a list of accommodation close to the conference venue on the Monash Prato Campus webpage HERE.

If you decide to stay at Hotel President, use their online booking system. Enter the discount code “MONASH” at checkout to receive a 10% discount on the current online rate.

If you would like to stay at a three-star hotel, we recommend the newly opened B&B Hotel.

Registration fees

Early bird fee until 15 October 2025 included

915€ (750€ + 22% VAT) members of EFMD
1342€ (1100€ + 22% VAT) non-members of EFMD

Registration fee as of 16 October 2025

1403€ (1150€ + 22% VAT) members of EFMD
1830€ (1500€ + 22% VAT) non-members of EFMD

Please note that a 25% discount applies for every third and subsequent participant from the same institution. If you are your institution’s third person registering, please contact career@efmdglobal.org to receive your registration link.

Some of our past participants have received Erasmus+ funding for staff mobility training. If your university is part of the Erasmus+ programme, you may ask the university contact person about the application process. Please send the agreement and any other related documents for signature to lenka.dvorackova@efmdglobal.org.

This conference is designed specifically for career services professionals, and we are unable to accommodate third-party providers.

Cancellation policy

Cancellations must be confirmed in writing. If EFMD is notified of your withdrawal by 20 October 2025, an administrative cancellation fee of 75€ + 22% will apply. After this date, we regret that no refunds can be issued. However, substitutions are allowed at no additional cost, provided EFMD is informed of the substitute’s name, title, and address. Event fees are not transferable to other EFMD events.

Please note that if payment (or proof of payment) is not received by 10 November 2025, your name will not be included in the participants’ list.

Host

Venue

Monash University
Prato Campus
Palazzo Vaj Via Pugliesi, 26
Prato
Italy

How to get there

The nearest airport is Florence airport

Florence airport to Prato by bus

Walk 10 minutes or take one stop on tram line T2 to reach the T2 Guidoni bus stop. From there take R1 bus to Prato. The R1 bus goes frequently and takes around 30 min. The ticket is around 3€ and you can pay by card on the bus. Find the timetable here. To arrive at Prato Campus, get off at Via del Ceppo Vecchio. To arrive at Art Hotel Milano, get off at Via Martini.

All buses and trams in Florence and Tuscany have a contactless payment system.

Florence (or other Italian cities) to Prato by train

The train station closest to the conference hotel is Prato Centrale. The train station closest to Prato campus is Prato Porta al Serraglio, a 5 minute walk. The main train station Prato Centrale to Prato campus is a 15-20 minute walk or a short bus ride away.

Train timetables are available on the Trenitalia website. The Italo train service is also an option for travel between major cities in Italy (but not to reach Prato directly).

Please note that the Prato–Bologna railway line will be closed for maintenance from Monday 29 September to Saturday 13 December 2025.

Florence airport to Prato by taxi

It costs around 40-50€ and takes about 25 minutes.

Other nearby airports

Pisa airport is approximately 1.5 hours from Prato by train, or 70 minutes from Florence by bus. You need to change trains twice if travelling from Pisa airport to Prato – at Pisa Centrale and Florence Rifredi to Prato Centrale. Then it is 10 min walk to the conference hotel. If you decide to take a bus, you need to change once at Florence Guidoni – first you take Flibco bus and then R1 bus. You can visit THIS webpage to organise your travels.

Bologna airport (G. Marconi) is approximately 70 minutes from Prato or 40 minutes from Florence by train. From Bologna airport, you can reach Bologna Centrale train station by bus, taxi or the Marconi Express. The Marconi Express is a monorail train that connects the airport to Bologna Centrale train station in 7 minutes. A bus or taxi ride takes about 30 minutes. From Bologna Centrale, it’s about a 1 hour journey on a regional train to Prato, or about a 30 minute journey to Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. Travel to Florence from Bologna is also possible by taking the Appennino Shuttle Bus direct from the airport to just behind the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station, at Piazzale Montelungo. There is contactless payment system on all buses and trams throughout Tuscany.

Please check further travel related information on the webpage of Prato campus here.

For programme & event

Lenka Dvorackova

lenka.dvorackova@efmdglobal.org

For registration & accommodation

Eliska Vinsova
Careers Conference

career@efmdglobal.org

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Participants' testimonials

"The EFMD conference is an essential opportunity for career professionals to develop networks, discuss best practice, and understand upcoming trends and challenges. The keynote speaker was top notch and her thoughts influenced the rest of the conference throughout. Top marks!"

Matthias Feist

Queen’s University Belfast

"EFMD Career Services is the best opportunity to connect with education professionals from all over the world, share ideas, and talk about common challenges. It is an inspiring event where you can learn about the latest trends in career support services, as well as create meaningful connections. The diverse range of activities—from networking sessions and panel discussions to debates and hands-on workshops with Lego Serious Play—maximizes learning opportunities and provides the perfect ground to generate new ideas which you can implement within your career services team. The superb organization of the event, will make you want to keep coming back year after year."

Paula Pascu

Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics